CALL FOR PAPERS - The Politics of African Literature: Writers, Activists and Intellectuals

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CALL FOR PAPERS:

The Politics of African Literature: Writers, Activists and
Intellectuals

Journal of Pan African Studies (JPAS)

Guest editors: Heather DuBois Bourenane and Mukoma Wa Ngugi



The Journal of Pan African Studies (JPAS) invites papers for a special
issue on Politics and African Literature. This issue will explore how
writers create, address and interrogate Pan-African solidarities
through works of fiction, poetry, prose and other communication arts.
There’s nothing particularly unique about the political nature of much
African literature; all literature is political in some way as it
attempts to mediate and examine the realities of everyday life through
various artistic media. But African literature is unique, perhaps, in
being rather singularly held to a political standard; our expectations
that African writers seek to confront inequities, expose corruption,
reflect on historical ills, etc, colors the way we read, and the way
we think about the role of African writers as agents of social
transformation. This issue will address various aspects of the
relationship between writing and politics, including (but not limited
to):

· What is the role of postcolonial African writer? To what
audience(s) does the Pan African writer appeal? What tensions
complicate or liberate the relationship between form and content in
African literature? When are national, religious, ethnic, linguistic
and other categories useful in constructing solidarity with one’s
readers and when are they problematic?

· Who is an African writer? In what ways does the term
African literature as a category ghettoize or liberate? What is
“African literature” today? To what extent can it be considered an
expression of Pan African solidarity? Is such a move essentializing or
productive?

· Are aesthetics and the political novel mutual exclusive?
What is the role of the literary critic in the appreciation of African
literature?

· What are the continuities and discontinuities between the
older and younger generation of African writers? Where does the
African literary tradition stand today? Where has it been?

· Cosmopolitan writers, been-tos, and exiles: What do we make
of the fact that a majority of the most widely read African writers do
not live in Africa, or were educated abroad? How does this affect
choices of form, theme and content? How does this affect the
relationship between the writer and society?

· The writer and the state. What role can/does the African
writer play in terms of influencing and reflecting on contemporary
politics? To what extent is the charge of elitism valid? Why do so
many African states continue to see artists as threats and what can/
should be done to invest in protections of the rights of writers,
scholars, and activists? How and when are “Pan-African” and
“nationalist” efforts either productive or problematic?

Papers from activists and scholars of any academic disciplines are
welcome. We invite papers on the roles of individual writers/groups
as well as analyses of literary works or trends in African literature
or its reception. Please include a brief biographical statement or cv
and your affiliation with your proposal. Deadline for 300-500 word
abstracts is September 30th, 2010. Accepted papers must be submitted
by January 31st, 2011. For more information or to submit a proposal,
please contact the guest editors, Heather DuBois Bourenane at
hldu...@wisc.edu and Mukoma Wa Ngugi at mukom...@gmail.com.